49 photos
Me, Myself and I.
An exploration of self, identity, age and the meaning of masculinity.
SYNOPSIS.
A series of self-portrait photographic images taken over the past two years, as a self-examination exploring themes of self-awareness, self-knowledge, ageing and bodily change, and challenging traditional and idealised views of masculinity.
I appear nude or semi-nude to avoid preconceptions created by dress codes and to express vulnerability and humanity. However, I use props as symbols and indicators where appropriate – a mirror, a mask, sunglasses, a beanie, an egg, a feather, biker pants, a stone painted with the OM symbol – to add to the narrative.
I use various techniques including multiple exposures in camera; camera movement; slow shutter speeds; and my own movement. Some images have been combined into photomontage so that the sum of the parts is more than the individual images. Many I have converted to monochrome to avoid the distraction of colour. In others, colour is an important element of the image. And some have been cropped to formats other than the original full frame format to suit the content.
By using these intimate and abstract details, extracts of my body, different facial expressions and showing images distorted and removed from a normal context, I hope to connect the personal with the universal and present a surprising and challenging experience.
DESCRIPTION.
Over the years, my artistic practice has focused primarily on landscape and nature photography, where I have sought to capture the spiritual dimensions of the natural world. Close observation of the elements of nature in their perpetual interplay, the mutual making and unmaking that constitute life itself, has led me on a journey from realism to abstraction. Self-portraiture came to me as a natural progression of this observational process. I also found inspiration in the work of Frida Kahlo, Francesca Woodman, Francis Bacon, Duane Michaels, and other artists.
This project began with a single composite image, made from six monochrome images showing segments of my body squeezed and distorted to exaggerate the effects of age, and which were arranged in a column from head to knees. I titled it “64” because that was my age when I took the photographs. Focusing on the changes of the aging body, the images reflect on the passage of time and its effects on self-perception, the process of looking and seeing, the duality of body and mind.
From that point on I began to explore other points of view, producing images that led me to new questions. To what extent are we a product of our own perpetual making and unmaking? Or of the world? What is the Self made of? Is the Self a static entity or a process? What is the meaning of self-awareness and is it possible at all? Also questions of an existential nature; Who was I or could I have been? Who am I or can I be? Who will I be or could I be?
With these questions that arose when I direct the camera towards myself I began to isolate and photograph segments of my body in unusual ways, creating new composite images as well as individual images with which I explored the physical self. This then made me raise the question of identity, and it was then that I thought of using the multiple exposure technique in the camera and a mask as an element to express the hidden inner self that dwells in everyone.
The introduction of camera and body movement takes the viewer beyond the surface of the skin to make us question who or what we are inside, who is hidden, repressed, inhabiting us, and what is the connection to the universal.
In all of this I realized that my explorations were also taking me down a path that differs from the traditional idealized representation of masculinity. I was asking myself: What is a man? Who defines him? How and why?
Inside I was connecting with a deeper consciousness, a gentler, more diverse, more open, more spiritual source.
I want the viewer to take this as a starting point for their own explorations.
An exploration of self, identity, age and the meaning of masculinity.
SYNOPSIS.
A series of self-portrait photographic images taken over the past two years, as a self-examination exploring themes of self-awareness, self-knowledge, ageing and bodily change, and challenging traditional and idealised views of masculinity.
I appear nude or semi-nude to avoid preconceptions created by dress codes and to express vulnerability and humanity. However, I use props as symbols and indicators where appropriate – a mirror, a mask, sunglasses, a beanie, an egg, a feather, biker pants, a stone painted with the OM symbol – to add to the narrative.
I use various techniques including multiple exposures in camera; camera movement; slow shutter speeds; and my own movement. Some images have been combined into photomontage so that the sum of the parts is more than the individual images. Many I have converted to monochrome to avoid the distraction of colour. In others, colour is an important element of the image. And some have been cropped to formats other than the original full frame format to suit the content.
By using these intimate and abstract details, extracts of my body, different facial expressions and showing images distorted and removed from a normal context, I hope to connect the personal with the universal and present a surprising and challenging experience.
DESCRIPTION.
Over the years, my artistic practice has focused primarily on landscape and nature photography, where I have sought to capture the spiritual dimensions of the natural world. Close observation of the elements of nature in their perpetual interplay, the mutual making and unmaking that constitute life itself, has led me on a journey from realism to abstraction. Self-portraiture came to me as a natural progression of this observational process. I also found inspiration in the work of Frida Kahlo, Francesca Woodman, Francis Bacon, Duane Michaels, and other artists.
This project began with a single composite image, made from six monochrome images showing segments of my body squeezed and distorted to exaggerate the effects of age, and which were arranged in a column from head to knees. I titled it “64” because that was my age when I took the photographs. Focusing on the changes of the aging body, the images reflect on the passage of time and its effects on self-perception, the process of looking and seeing, the duality of body and mind.
From that point on I began to explore other points of view, producing images that led me to new questions. To what extent are we a product of our own perpetual making and unmaking? Or of the world? What is the Self made of? Is the Self a static entity or a process? What is the meaning of self-awareness and is it possible at all? Also questions of an existential nature; Who was I or could I have been? Who am I or can I be? Who will I be or could I be?
With these questions that arose when I direct the camera towards myself I began to isolate and photograph segments of my body in unusual ways, creating new composite images as well as individual images with which I explored the physical self. This then made me raise the question of identity, and it was then that I thought of using the multiple exposure technique in the camera and a mask as an element to express the hidden inner self that dwells in everyone.
The introduction of camera and body movement takes the viewer beyond the surface of the skin to make us question who or what we are inside, who is hidden, repressed, inhabiting us, and what is the connection to the universal.
In all of this I realized that my explorations were also taking me down a path that differs from the traditional idealized representation of masculinity. I was asking myself: What is a man? Who defines him? How and why?
Inside I was connecting with a deeper consciousness, a gentler, more diverse, more open, more spiritual source.
I want the viewer to take this as a starting point for their own explorations.
© PHIL CREAN PHOTOGRAPHY